The Fischer-Tropsch process can be used for the conversion of hydrocarbonaceous feed stocks into normally liquid and/or solid hydrocarbons (i.e. measured at 0° C., 1 bar). The feed stock (e.g. natural gas, associated gas, coal-bed methane, residual oil fractions, biomass and/or coal) is converted in a first step into a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This mixture is often referred to as synthesis gas or syngas. The synthesis gas is fed into a reactor where it is converted over a suitable catalyst at elevated temperature and pressure into paraffinic compounds ranging from methane to high molecular weight molecules comprising up to 200 carbon atoms, or, under particular circumstances, even more.
The hydrocarbon products manufactured in the Fischer-Tropsch process are processed into different fractions, for example a liquid hydrocarbon stream comprising mainly C5+ hydrocarbons, and a gaseous hydrocarbon stream which comprises methane, carbon dioxide, unconverted carbon monoxide, unconverted hydrogen, and lower hydrocarbons. The gaseous hydrocarbon stream may also comprise nitrogen as the syngas sent to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor may contain some nitrogen.
The gaseous hydrocarbon stream is often referred to as Fischer-Tropsch off-gas. Fischer-Tropsch off-gas can be recycled to the syngas manufacturing or to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Sometimes lower hydrocarbons are removed before the off-gas is recycled. Lower hydrocarbons may be removed by decreasing the temperature of the off-gas and then applying a gas-liquid separation. However, when the off-gas is recycled to the syngas manufacturing or to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor, the components in the off-gas which do not take part in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen and methane, occupy reactor space. The components which do not take part in the Fischer-Tropsch reaction are also referred to as “inerts”.
The level of inerts in the Fischer-Tropsch reactor increases with increasing Fischer-Tropsch off-gas recycling. The pace of the build-up of inerts can be reduced by treating the off-gas before it is recycled. When the off-gas is passed through a pressure swing adsorption unit (PSA), it is normally possible to remove carbon dioxide and water from the off-gas. It is often possible to recover a hydrogen stream from the off-gas by means of a PSA unit; the hydrogen stream can be recycled to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor. Nevertheless, common commercial PSA units are often not designed to recover a carbon monoxide stream. And some common commercial PSA units result in a hydrogen stream comprising a significant amount of nitrogen. Therefore it is common to recycle only a relatively small part of the off-gas. One possibility is to recycle a part of the Fischer-Tropsch off-gas to one or more Fischer-Tropsch reactors while another part of the off-gas is used as fuel. A downside of this is that only a part of the carbon atoms of the hydrocarbonaceous feed stock is converted to the desired C5+ hydrocarbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,590 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,470 describe the separation of gases using specific PSA systems with a first PSA unit for producing hydrogen and a second PSA unit for producing carbon monoxide. Such systems may be useful for gas mixtures comprising a relatively high amount of hydrogen. Such systems are, however, not suitable for gas mixtures comprising a relatively low amount of hydrogen, e.g. less than 50 volume % calculated on the total gas mixture. Furthermore, in case of a gas feed comprising a significant amount of nitrogen such systems will not result in the product cuts as described. When, for example, pure hydrogen would be separated using the first PSA, nitrogen would contaminate the intermediate carbon monoxide stream in a system according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,590 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,470. The systems of U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,590 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,470 may therefore be suitable to treat a hydrogen-rich gas mixture exiting a steam methane reformer, but they are not suitable to treat a nitrogen-comprising hydrogen-lean off-gas of a Fischer-Tropsch process.
US20110011128 describes a PSA comprising system in which purified hydrogen is produced using a PSA, which may be a conventional co-purge H2 PSA unit. Such a system may be useful to a hydrogen-rich gas mixture exiting a steam methane reformer, but is not suitable to treat nitrogen comprising hydrogen-lean off-gas of a Fischer-Tropsch process.
US20040077736 mentions a process in which a liquid phase and a vapour phase are withdrawn from a hydrocarbons synthesis stage. In a vapour phase work-up stage, hydrocarbon products having 3 or more carbon atoms may be removed and the residual vapour phase may then pass to a PSA. Using the PSA first, second and optionally third gas components are separated. The first gas component comprises carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The second gas component comprises methane, and the optional third gas component comprises carbon dioxide. The first gas component is recycled to the hydrocarbon synthesis stage. US20040077736 does not provide details on the method PSA method used. A regular use of a normal PSA would result in a relatively low recovery of carbon monoxide in the first gas component, and a build-up of nitrogen in the reactor upon recycling the first gas component to the hydrocarbon synthesis stage.
US20080300326-A1 describes the use of a PSA method to separate Fischer-Tropsch off-gas. The method produces at least one gas stream comprising hydrogen, at least one gas stream mainly comprising methane, and at least one gas stream comprising carbon dioxide, nitrogen and/or argon, and hydrocarbons with at least 2 carbon atoms. The PSA used comprises at least three adsorbent beds: alumina, carbon molecular sieves or silicates, activated carbon, and optionally zeolite. The alumina is used to remove water. The carbon molecular sieves or silicates are used to adsorb carbon dioxide and partially methane. The activated carbon is used to adsorb methane and partially nitrogen and carbon monoxide. Zeolite may be used to adsorb nitrogen, argon and carbon monoxide. The product stream of the PSA mainly comprises hydrogen. The other gas streams are obtained during the decompression phase. Disadvantages of the method of US20080300326-A1 are at least the following. Nitrogen is only partially adsorbed in the PSA. This results in a build-up of nitrogen in the Fischer-Tropsch reactor when the hydrogen stream is used as reactant gas. Also the methane stream comprises nitrogen and thus results in the build-up of nitrogen in the syngas, and thus in the Fischer-Tropsch reactor, when the methane stream is used for generating syngas. Another disadvantage of the method of US20080300326-A1 is that carbon monoxide is only recycled to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor in a limited amount. Carbon monoxide is present in the hydrogen stream and in the methane stream. Nevertheless, at least 50% of the CO initially present in the off-gas ends up in the third stream which is used as fuel.
There is a desire to obtain a pure carbon monoxide stream from Fischer-Tropsch off-gas. Such a pure carbon monoxide stream can then be recycled to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor. This would make it possible to convert most of the carbon atoms of the hydrocarbonaceous feed stock to the desired C5+ hydrocarbons. It is even more desired to additionally obtain a pure hydrogen stream from Fischer-Tropsch off-gas, which may also be recycled to the Fischer-Tropsch reactor.